1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a wind instrument, and more particularly to a tuning tube for a clarinet.
2. Description of Related Art
With reference to FIGS. 9–10, a clarinet (60) has a top end (61) with a first cork (not numbered) mounted in the top end (61). A tuning tube (70) has a lower chamber (72) defined at a lower portion thereof and an upper chamber (71) defined at an upper portion thereof. The top end (61) of the clarinet (60) is received in the lower chamber (72).
An upper tube (80) has a lower end (81) with a second cork (not numbered) mounted in the lower end and received in the upper chamber (71) of the tuning tube (70). A mouthpiece (82) is mounted on a top end of the upper tube (80).
When a keynote of the clarinet (60) is sharp, the tuning tube (70) is pulled upwards to lower the pitch. When the keynote of the clarinet (60) is flat, the tuning tube (70) should be replaced with another tube (not shown) shorter than the tuning tube (70) to raise the pitch, which is a very inconvenient way to tune the clarinet (60).
Moreover, during pulling the tuning tube (80), the second cork on the upper tube (80) is easily damaged. The mouthpiece (82) needs to be adjusted after tuning, so the processing is very complex. Furthermore, there is a large space (62) between the tuning tube (70) and the top end (61), so condensed water etc will accumulate in the space (62) and airflow through the clarinet (60) will become incontrollable, which is not good for the performance.
Therefore, the invention provides an adjustable tuning tube for a clarinet to mitigate or obviate the aforementioned problems.